Wednesday, April 27, 2011

April 25, 2011 E-Mail

My new companions name is Elder Igleski. He is from Gilbert, Arizona. And he's a great missionary. He reminds me a lot of Sam. So we are having a lot of fun and getting a lot of work done. It's been a little tough this past week because I have been pretty sick with a sore throat and a cough. But there was no way I was sitting at home trying to recover on his first week in the field. So we went out and still got a lot done. I might have to take a long nap today but that's okay. I was getting pretty worried the other day because I almost lost my voice during like 3 lessons. Well they were all in Spanish and my companion doesn't speak any Spanish yet. So my Spanish has been forced to improve a little bit. So by the time those lessons were over I felt like I had been yelling. But we made it through the week and it all paid off.


Estel is still doing really well. She didn't make it to church yesterday because she had to go to Kennewick. She loved church last week and she has been reading from the book of Mormon.  We also picked up teaching Saul a little bit again. You probably remember me talking about him. Well he has another baptismal date for the 28th of May. Elder Igleski invited him last night to be baptized on that day and he accepted. We just need to get him to come to church. I know he will love it if he gets there. He just needs to get there. But he is doing a really good job at reading from the book of Mormon. He is reading it in English and is understanding pretty much everything. Which is crazy because his Spanish is better than his English.

We had the opportunity to give an investigator a blessing this past week. It was a really good experience. His name is Juan and he is a recovering alcoholic. We were able to explain what a blessing was then give him one. It was a strong spiritual experience. We taught them a lesson then gave him a blessing then said a closing prayer. Well right before we left he asked if he could say a prayer. It was probably one of the most humble prayers I have ever heard and all he said was God thank you for the blessing. It was great to feel the spirit that was there.

Yesterday we had a great Easter. We went to church and listened to some great talks about the Savior then we went to a big family dinner. They fed us ham and king salmon. It was an awesome dinner. It was just so strange to eat American food again! But it was really good. They took really good care of us. Then we went out and taught some lessons.

I forgot to tell you, last week after we e-mailed or ward mission leader took us out to lunch. Well we went to a Mexican place here called La Popular that has really good food. Well a lady we are teaching was working there so she gave us some menudo. So I can officially say I have eaten menudo. It wasn't to bad. It just felt like I was eating a rubber band. And it smelt like crap. But it wasn't to bad. It's definitely not something I would eat for pleasure. But I would do it if I had to.

This week my testimony was strengthened in how the gospel truly does bless us.  I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life and the blessings I personally have received from it. I know it can truly bless all those who are willing to listen. And that's why I'm here today. To share this great information with everyone. Because it truly does bring a peace and happiness into our lives! I love you all so much and am so grateful for your support. Have a great week!!!

Monday, April 18, 2011

April 18, 2011 E-Mail

So you're probably waiting to hear about transfers so I will just start off with that.  I will be staying here in Mattawa which I'm really excited about.  I really do like it here and we are seeing great things happen.  We found an awesome investigator this past week who I will tell you more about in a minute.  But my companion Elder Clarke will be leaving.  He is going to Wenatchee so I'm a little jealous of him for that.  But I will be getting a brand new missionary from the MTC this transfer.  So I have to go to Spokane early tomorrow morning.  So as of right now I have no idea who my new companion is.  So I will have to let you know about that next week.
So now to tell you about that investigator we found.  Her name is Estel Garcia.  I tracted into her about three weeks ago when we were on exchanges and she was just the nicest lady.  Well she said she was getting ready to move and didn't have time but she told me to call her in a few weeks.  So that's usually just a blow off excuse that we hear quite a bit.  But the other night we were planning and I just had the strongest impression to call this lady.  So I wrote it down to call her the next day.  Then the next day I sort of put it off and we were just walking down the road and I felt the impression again to call her.  And where we are we usually don't have cell phone service so it's really sketchy making calls.  So I took out the phone and it said no service but I thought what the heck I would just dial the number.  So it went through perfectly clear and she was way excited to talk to us.  She told us to come right over.  So we went straight there.  She was the only one in the house so we just sat out on the front lawn.  So we taught her twice this past week.  She is catholic but doesn't really like the church because she feels like she can't participate in that church.  So yesterday she came to church for all three hours which rarely happens.  She even participated in the classes and she just loved it.  So she is doing really well and so far is loving the church.  The only problem is that she's not married to the guy she lives with because she met him here in the United States and he has a wife in Mexico that he is separated from but not divorced.  So he needs to get divorced then marry her.  But we are really excited about her.
This week was probably my week of eating different foods.  And my system has completely changed to where it can't handle american food but it can handle mexican food.  So we had pasoli the other day at a part we went to.  That's like pork and harmony in a broth.  Well it also has pigs feet in it.  So I got to eat some pigs feet.  They even still had some hair on them.  I didn't really enjoy it.  It just tasted like fat.  Then we were visiting a family the other day and they were talking about how they just ate raw eggs.  So they popped open an egg and put it in a cup then put some apple juice in it.  So that also was a little interesting.  I'm just glad I'm not Weston eating half developed chicks.
I had a humbling experience this week.  We were teaching a couple named Esteban and Rosa in there little trailer where they live.  I think I might have already talked about them a little bit I can't remember.  But anyways there trailer reminds me of Lynn's old trailer.  Rancho el rae or whatever it was called.  But so there trailer isn't much bigger than that trailer.  It's about 20 feet.  So it's very tight teaching them in there.  Well anyways, I was talking to them because my companion was out the door making some phone calls.  They told me how happy they were living where they were living with all they had.  They told me that they loved living middle class like they are right now.  It just really made me realize how blessed I am.  To see these people be extremely happy living middle class in this trailer that to me is a deer hunting trailer.  It just really hit me that I do have a lot and am so fortunate and blessed.  Often times I take the little things for granted.
I think I only have one more story for this week.  One of our investigators called us up and told us that he needed his help because his dog had something like Pulga's.  And pulga's our fleas.  So we went down there and his dog had a huge tick in it.  I mean this thing was HUGE!  And the guy was sort of nervous that the dog was going to die and it's pregnant.  So we got to burn this huge tick out of a german sheperd.  It was crazy.
So I think that's all of my crazy stories of the week.  It's been an awesome week.  Sometimes week 6 of the transfer is a tough one, but we really tore it up.  We just have been so exhausted lately that it's been crazy.  I truly know that this is the Lord's work.  As we share the true and everlasting gospel we are brought to so much joy.  I'm so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be here.  I love you all so much and thanks for all you do!!!!!!!!

Monday, April 11, 2011

April 11, 2011 E-Mail

Another week has flown by. Things are going pretty good. We even had a few different investigators come to church yesterday! And that's always an exciting thing. They all came in english too. We stayed really busy again and taught a bunch of lessons. This past week we were talking to this guy named Fidel. He is a member who was baptized about a year and a half ago. Anyways, talking to him just really made me realize how the gospel can change peoples lives. He was living in Los Angeles a while ago and pretty much doing nothing but drinking and hanging out with gangs. It sounded like he was living a pretty tough life. Well one night he was sitting in his car and some people drove by and start shooting at him. He got hit twice in the back with a 45 then a 22 in the head. The 22 bullet went in his ear and came out of his eye and the 2 45 bullets he still has in his back. They told him if they would have removed them that it would have paralyzed him. It even put him in a coma for a while. Then he came up to Washington to live with his mom because he can't really work to much anymore because he doesn't have a driver's license cause he can only see out of one eye. And here is where he met the missionaries. And he was baptized. I think he told me he has like 4 kids and had a couple of wives and was just a gang banger. Now he is a very faithful member of the church. It's pretty cool to see what the atonement can do and how it can change lives. He is an awesome guy.


Yesterday I learned a lot about just letting the Holy Ghost work on people. After church we went to visit this family who we have taught a couple of times. Well the family wasn't there but the dad was. So he just started talking to us and telling us about life and work and all that stuff. Then we said a prayer and shared a message with him. Then he just kept on talking and talking and talking. So we just listened. He let us know about all of the problems he has in his life and how bad he wants to change and set the example for his kids. And we didn't even have to tell him the things he needs to do to have happiness in his home. He came right out and told us, I know that I have to read as a family and pray as a family and that we need to come to your church as a family. It was just really cool because we went in there planning to teach him something completely different. And he just basically ended up teaching himself by the power of the Holy Ghost.

So it's been a really good week. This next Sunday we already find out about transfers again. I feel like I just got here yesterday. So we will see what happens in a week. We don't really have anyone right now who has a baptismal date, but we have a few really good potentials who told us they would pray about getting baptized on May 14th. And they all have been to church once. It's just tough to find the ones who are willing to act. We meet a lot of people who are just really nice and who will listen and tell us what we want to hear just because they don't want to be mean. And that makes the work harder! But things are going great.

I know this church is true. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He died for us. Through Him and His atonement, we can be free of sin and be worthy to return to live with our Father in Heaven again! Thank you so much for all of the love and support you all give me. Have a great week!! I love you!

PS I don't know if Nick gets my e-mails or not, but tell him Happy Birthday!!!

Monday, April 4, 2011

April 4, 2011 E-Mail

Sorry this e-mail is coming so late. It's been a very busy morning. They are building a new building here for the food bank and most the people that are volunteering are church members. So they called us to go down this morning. We just got done hanging all of the trusses. It feels so good to get out and work with my hands again.


It was funny because we went to pick our car up from the body shop this past week. I guess since working at a body shop I'm really picky. We got the car and went across the street to a gas station to get a drink and I got out and looked at it. I wasn't very satisfied that's for sure so I took it back and made them buff on it some more. I guess that's what buffing cars for close to 3 years did to me. But we have our car back and all is well.

The weather this past week has warmed up a lot. It's still really windy a lot, but it's gotten a lot warmer. And we don't have to wear suits anymore until next conference. Other than to church and other meetings we have. So this is probably my favorite time of the year because I don't enjoy wearing a suit all of the time.

Conference was really good. We didn't get to watch the Saturday morning session because we were out making some visits. Then the priesthood session we watched in spanish. Which was actually really good, to be honest it was the only session I didn't fall asleep in because I was focusing a lot more to understand everything. But I did enjoy conference and I look forward to getting the Liahona. That's cool that you guys were all able to go to a session. And That Grandpa went to the priesthood session with everyone. I realized that this was my third conference as a missionary. It was a little bit weird thinking about that. We actually had two investigators come to conference. It was the guy named Luis who's girlfriend burned all of his stuff and took the stuff she didn't burn. Well him and his wife Roselia came. That's the first time an investigator had attended church in a long time in this area. So we are seeing things pick up a little bit.

Last Tuesday we had zone conference and I met a Sister missionary named Sister Krambule I think. Well she's from Star Valley and played soccer with Sierra back in high school I think she said.

Nothing new happened this week. We have been teaching this kid named Saul. He is like a 17 year old kid who had a dream that the catholic church isn't true. Well we started to teach his whole family this week which was pretty cool. Then yesterday we went over to see the family and Saul wasn't even there but they still let us in. His mom was having kidney stones so we were able to give her a blessing. But it was pretty cool because they went from not listening at all to letting us give her a blessing all in one week. They really want to come to church but she wasn't able to move around very well yesterday so they didn't come. That was the good story of the week. I'm so grateful to have a living prophet. Someone who talks to God just like Moses or Noah. As we follow the counsel of the Prophet and the Apostles, we will be in good shape! I love you all! Have a great week!!!